W L PCT GB
Tacoma ...... 89 57 .610 —
Yakima ...... 90 58 .608 —
Tri-City .... 81 65 .555 8
Wenatchee ... 77 70 .524 12½
Victoria .... 66 82 .446 24
Vancouver ... 63 81 .438 25
Spokane ..... 62 83 .428 26½
Salem ....... 57 89 .390 32
VANCOUVER, B. C., Sept. 8—Tacoma Tigers got nowhere fast Friday night in their down-to-the-wire tussle with Yakima Bears for the league leadership as they succumbed, 4-2, to Vancouver Capilanos.
The Tigers had a 2-0 lead off Bob Snyder after five innings. The Caps evened it in their half of the inning when lefthander Tom Kipp made the error of throwing a fat fastball to Snyder, who hit it for a single. Two were out. The next batter, Reg Clarkson, belted Kipp's second offering onto Sixth Avenue for his fourth homer in four games.
The Caps won the game in the eighth and made reliefer Hunk Anderson, a Cap castoff, the loser by scoring two runs on three walks, a hit batsman and two singles.
The crowd's biggest thrill came in the ninth when Snyder forced the league's leading home run hitter and RBI champion to send a towering fly to right centre field with two aboarrd. Another 20 feet and Dick Greco would have had a home run.
Tacoma ........... 100 010 000—2 12 1
Vancouver ....... 000 020 02x—4 6 0
Kipp, Anderson (5), Carter (8) and Sheets; Snyder and Heisner.
VICTORIA, B.C., Sept. 8—The large crowd of “Ladies Night” fans at Royal Athletic Park on Friday night were rewarded with one of the season’s finest games, with the revitalized Victoria Athletics playing more like league champions than also-rans. They made it two in a row over the defending champions, 3-2, in an eleventh inning thriller. It was their fifth victory in six starts this week against the two clubs battling for the flag.
Friday night’s battle was a tense one from the start, with runners on the bags in almost every inning, but runs were at a premium. Jim Hedgecock went the distance for his 13th game, although he almost threw it away with one bad pitch in the ninth inning when he was within one pitch of a 3-2 triumph. Bill Dunn, Al Ronning and Gene Thompson provided him with the offensive support.
The Bears took the lead with two runs in the thing inning when two errors figured in the Yakima scoring. Dunn squared matters in the fourth when he hit his third home run of the season, first of four hits, with John Hack on the bags.
Victoria went out in front in the seventh when Ronning connected for the third of five hits to drive in Bob McGuire. Hedgecock held the Bears until the ninth, when Nino Tornay led off with a double. The next two batters were easy outs but pinch-hitter Frank Mascaro tied it with a long single when Hedgecock came in with a fat pitch on an 0-2 count.
Lloyd Dickey, ace Yakima lefthander, came in to face the A’s in the ninth, but two singles around a sacrifice brought in Dewey Soriano, who stopped the A’s but then failed in the eleventh and went down to his second defeat in two nights.
Bob McGuire grounded out to open the 11th, but Marty Krug Jr. drew a walk. Ronning sent him to third with his fifth hit. The Bears elected to pitch to Thompson, their former teammate, who gained credit for his second double of the night when he lined Soriano’s first pitch to left centre. Krug held up at third to see if the ball would be caught then came in with the winning run.
Yakima ......... 022 000 001 00—3 10 0
Victoria ........ 000 200 010 01—4 16 3
Bradford, Dickey (8), Soriano (9) and Tornay; Hedgecock and Danielson.
SPOKANE, Sept. 8—The Spokane Indians needed six innings to solve the pitching of Tri-City's Joe Orrell and then rapped him for six quick runs to beat the Braves, 7 to 5 Friday night.
The game opened the final Western International league series of the season for both teams and drew 1,032 fans to Ferris field.
Tri-City ......... 002 000 003—5 13 3
Spokane ........ 000 010 33x—7 11 0
Orrell and McKeegan; Rockey and Rossi.
WENATCHEE, Sept. 8 — Southpaw Tommy Breisinger pitched no-hit ball for seven and one-third innings here Friday night to lead the Wenatchee Chiefs to a 10-1 win over the Salem Senators.
Jay Ragni, Wenatchee pitcher-outfielder, hit the jackpot during the evening. He received a complete stream-fishing outfit as being selected the most valuable Wenatchee player of the season.
Brick Laws, president of the Pacific Coast league Oakland Acorns announced Ragni will join the PCL club Saturday as the player selected under a working agreement between Oakland and Wenatchee.
Salem ........... 000 000 010—1 2 1
Wenatchee .... 220 010 14x—10 14 3
Tierney, Costello (2) and Martin; Breisinger and Len Neal.
Salem Senators Reported For Sale; Price Tag Is $50,000
KENNEWICK, Sept. 7—The Salem Senators baseball club is for sale for $50,000 and if there are no takers it probably will be moved to New Westminster, B. C., next year.
Bill Mulligan, general manager of the Portland Pacific Coast league club which owns the Solons, was quoted to that effect today by the Tri-City Herals.
The $50,000 price tag includes Waters Park in Salem and the Senators' Western International League franchise. Don Becker said after an interview with Mulligan that Portland has decided not to operate the club at Salem next year “in any event.”
The Senators are a dismal last in the WIL this season and have drawn poorly at the gate at home. They were drubbed 18 to 3 by Tri-City Thursday night, their third straight lop-sided shellacking at the hands of the Braves during the five game series. Salem lost all five.
It is understood that the other seven clubs in the league have agreed to let Portland take the franchise to New Westminster in the event the Beavers can't peddle the club.
New Westminster was picked because of a hot hockey rivalry between that town and Vancouver, B. C. and Victoria, B. C., both of which have teams in the WIL, it was said. Mulligan hopes the hockey rivalry will swing over into baseball and be a good gate attraction, it is disclosed. All three are in the Pacific Coast hockey league.
The Senators have been on the block before but haven't drawn many likely buyers.
Mulligan was here Thursday night to see the Solons take the 18 to 3 trouncing.
- - - -
TACOMA, Sept. 8—The proposed sale or transfer of the Salem franchise in the Western International League as reported earlier in Kennewick, has not yet been brought formally to the attention of league directors, Robert B. Abel, president of the circuit, said here Saturday.
Commenting on the possibility that the Portland Beavers, who own the Salem club, might seek a transfer of the franchise to New Westminster, B.C., Abel pointed out that such a move would have to be conducted in accordance with the rules laid down by the National Association of Professional Baseball League. Essentially, the Vancouver Capilanos, whose territorial rights would be involved, would have to approve any such move.
WILfan note: New Westminster had a team in pro ball for one season — the 'Frasers' of the Northwest League in 1974. It drew just over 10,000 fans before folding. The keen Vancouver-New West-Victoria hockey rivalry, dating to the time when the Patricks put pro hockey on the West Coast, fizzled out once Vancouver got an NHL franchise.
IT BEATS ME
By JIM TANG [Victoria Colonist, from Sept. 9, 1951]
Jack Harsham [sic], former Victoria first baseman who slipped all the way from the New York Giants to Jacksonville of the Class “A” Sally League this year, is trying his hand at pitching. He defeated Augusta, 5-2, in his first start. . . . W.I.L. clubs were polled last week on the question of the Saughnessy play-off this season, but the idea apparently died in the early stages. The league should have a play-off, but it should be announced at the start, not the end of a season. . . . Dewey Soriano, president of the Yakima Bears, its reported to be selling his interest in the club and returning to sea. Soriano holds a master’s certificate and will probable [sic] captain a freighter. . . . Apparently upset by the criticism it contained, Umpire Doc Regele read a newspaper account of his banishment of John Marshall Wednesday night over the phone to League-president. Bob Abel. Abel instructed Business-manager Reg Patterson to inform the writer it was an “amateurish” bit of writing. Wonder if he thinks that the W.I.L. has been getting professional umpiring this season, , , , Al Ronning has made 14 hits in 19 official trips to the plate this season and the big Victoria catcher is almost certain to reach his second successive .300 batting average. . . . Wee Teddy Savarese, smallest pitcher in the W.I.L. for the past two seasons, has been doing well since he was recalled by the parent San Francisco Seals. The Seals have also recalled Nino Tornay from the Bears and the hard-hitting catcher will leave for Coast League action immediately after the end of the W.I.L. season. . . . Too bad the Athletics didn’t start playing the brand of ball they are exhibiting this week a couple of months sooner. Any club troubles have been straightened out and the players are now solidly behind Manager Marty Krug, several of the expressing themselves on that subject.
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